Chapter 2 considers how existing citizenship scholarship now understood as ‘the Citizenship Debate’ can be explored in more detail at a national level through the lens of the 2004 Irish Citizenship ...
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Chapter 2 considers how existing citizenship scholarship now understood as ‘the Citizenship Debate’ can be explored in more detail at a national level through the lens of the 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum. This chapter draws on a wealth of primary sources (including media analysis, parliamentary speeches, debates, reports and legislation) and academic analysis to outline the dominant sovereign understanding of the citizen-subject in discussions surrounding this referendum. The arguments surrounding this referendum are linked to the two main theoretical models which have dominated current citizenship scholarship: a particular (exclusive) model, and a universal (inclusive) model of citizenship. This chapter demonstrates how both models in The Citizenship Debate ignore hybrid possibilities of political subjectivity which exceed the discursive space made available by a statist account of time and space. This chapter draws on the work of cutting edge theorists within the field of critical citizenship studies such as Ayelet Shachar and Sandro Mezzadra to consider the importance and possibility of naming and confronting how both the problem and the solution to citizenship have come to be located in a modern sovereign statist dualistic framework.Less

A Lens: : The 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum

Aoileann Ní Mhurchú

Published in print: 2014-08-31

Chapter 2 considers how existing citizenship scholarship now understood as ‘the Citizenship Debate’ can be explored in more detail at a national level through the lens of the 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum. This chapter draws on a wealth of primary sources (including media analysis, parliamentary speeches, debates, reports and legislation) and academic analysis to outline the dominant sovereign understanding of the citizen-subject in discussions surrounding this referendum. The arguments surrounding this referendum are linked to the two main theoretical models which have dominated current citizenship scholarship: a particular (exclusive) model, and a universal (inclusive) model of citizenship. This chapter demonstrates how both models in The Citizenship Debate ignore hybrid possibilities of political subjectivity which exceed the discursive space made available by a statist account of time and space. This chapter draws on the work of cutting edge theorists within the field of critical citizenship studies such as Ayelet Shachar and Sandro Mezzadra to consider the importance and possibility of naming and confronting how both the problem and the solution to citizenship have come to be located in a modern sovereign statist dualistic framework.

In this introduction chapter citizenship scholarship is situated in the broader context of the global politics of identity and belonging, and the driving concern behind the book is presented. This ...
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In this introduction chapter citizenship scholarship is situated in the broader context of the global politics of identity and belonging, and the driving concern behind the book is presented. This driving concern is that of how political identity and belonging has come to be dominated by a statist framework the limitations of how citizenship is conceptualised in terms of a binary sovereign statist framework of us/them, inside/outside, included/excluded. This introduction chapter establishes why the 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum is an appropriate and fruitful lens through which to explore the limitations of existing citizenship scholarship; reflects upon the importance of intergenerational migrant experiences in discussions about citizenship; considers how the existing citizenship scholarship can be interrogated using the work of R.B.J. Walker, Étienne Balibar and Engin Isin; and finally considers how an alternative understanding of the time and space of citizenship can be deployed through the work of Julia Kristeva. It discusses how this book builds upon the new and emerging dynamic field of critical citizenship studies (CCS).Less

Introduction

Aoileann Ní Mhurchú

Published in print: 2014-08-31

In this introduction chapter citizenship scholarship is situated in the broader context of the global politics of identity and belonging, and the driving concern behind the book is presented. This driving concern is that of how political identity and belonging has come to be dominated by a statist framework the limitations of how citizenship is conceptualised in terms of a binary sovereign statist framework of us/them, inside/outside, included/excluded. This introduction chapter establishes why the 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum is an appropriate and fruitful lens through which to explore the limitations of existing citizenship scholarship; reflects upon the importance of intergenerational migrant experiences in discussions about citizenship; considers how the existing citizenship scholarship can be interrogated using the work of R.B.J. Walker, Étienne Balibar and Engin Isin; and finally considers how an alternative understanding of the time and space of citizenship can be deployed through the work of Julia Kristeva. It discusses how this book builds upon the new and emerging dynamic field of critical citizenship studies (CCS).

Citizenship is widely understood in binary statist terms: inclusion/exclusion, past/present, particularism/universalism, with the emphasis on how globalisation brings such binaries into sharp focus ...
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Citizenship is widely understood in binary statist terms: inclusion/exclusion, past/present, particularism/universalism, with the emphasis on how globalisation brings such binaries into sharp focus and exacerbates them. This book highlights the limitations of this position and of current debate, and explores the possibility that citizenship is being reconfigured in contemporary political life beyond binary state-oriented categories. Aoileann Ní Mhurchú uses critical resources found in poststructural, psychoanalytic and postcolonial thought to think in new ways about citizenship-subjectivity in a globalized world, drawing on a range of thinkers including Julia Kristeva, Homi Bhabha and Michel Foucault. Using the 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum as a lens and focusing on experiences of intergenerational migrants (the children born to migrants), she highlights the necessity of a more sophisticated understanding of citizenship which takes into account how some people get caught between state-sovereign categories, and provides a robust theoretical discussion about how citizenship increasingly involves overlapping, ambiguous traces of us and them, inclusion and exclusion, particularism and universalism which confound easy categorisation. In doing so it raises questions about how citizenship is understood in time and space. In this way Ambiguous Citizenship in an Age of Global Migration contributes to the growing and dynamic interdisciplinary field of critical citizenship studies (CCS), which explores new forms of political identity and belonging in a globalising world.Less

Ambiguous Citizenship in an Age of Global Migration

Aoileann Ní Mhurchú

Published in print: 2014-08-31

Citizenship is widely understood in binary statist terms: inclusion/exclusion, past/present, particularism/universalism, with the emphasis on how globalisation brings such binaries into sharp focus and exacerbates them. This book highlights the limitations of this position and of current debate, and explores the possibility that citizenship is being reconfigured in contemporary political life beyond binary state-oriented categories. Aoileann Ní Mhurchú uses critical resources found in poststructural, psychoanalytic and postcolonial thought to think in new ways about citizenship-subjectivity in a globalized world, drawing on a range of thinkers including Julia Kristeva, Homi Bhabha and Michel Foucault. Using the 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum as a lens and focusing on experiences of intergenerational migrants (the children born to migrants), she highlights the necessity of a more sophisticated understanding of citizenship which takes into account how some people get caught between state-sovereign categories, and provides a robust theoretical discussion about how citizenship increasingly involves overlapping, ambiguous traces of us and them, inclusion and exclusion, particularism and universalism which confound easy categorisation. In doing so it raises questions about how citizenship is understood in time and space. In this way Ambiguous Citizenship in an Age of Global Migration contributes to the growing and dynamic interdisciplinary field of critical citizenship studies (CCS), which explores new forms of political identity and belonging in a globalising world.